Dark Souls x Persona: The Undead Arcana
by Allen Lex Hughes
Summary: Highschool student Saki Merumi moves to Tassadan Island, attending a new school and hoping to start a new life. However, she will soon discover that this new life of hers might be much more exciting than she asked for.


"Next station: Tassadan Island," sounded through the speakers.

That was a pretty unfitting name for a Japanese island, but I shook the thought off. It was the beginning of my new life, so I had to take it as it came or turn around and return to Tokyo. And to be honest, I had spent too much money and given too many troubles to my aunt so I could transfer to the school in Tassadan, which made turning back a big "no".

I stepped out of the train and onto the station, taking in the fresh ocean air. It was a refreshing sensation, and made me realize how much of a good choice it had been. I recalled the directions I had been given instructions on how to get from the station to my new apartment, and tried to follow them to the letter. But, as fate would require it, I found myself in a street which name I didn't know, without a clue of where I was. And as night was already falling, I was a bit afraid of being lost in the dark. Fortunately, someone noticed my troubled expression and walked towards me.

"Is anything wrong?" the young man asked.

"Yeah... Could you tell me where to find this street?" I pointed out the directions written on my cellphone, and he took some seconds to locate them.

"It's about three blocks in that direction," he pointed at our left, then saw my bags and chuckled. "You came from the station, right? You probably took a wrong turn in the roundabout."

"That's probably it," I admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh, don't worry about that," the now amused man leaned closer. "I've lived in this island for years now and I still take the wrong exit from time to time."

"Thank you very much," I smiled.

"No problem. My name is Kazushi, by the way," he extended his hand to me.

"I'm Saki," as I shook his hand, his body seemed to tense, as if wanting to step back. However, he held it, and acted like nothing happened.

"It's getting late, so I should get going," he waved goodbye and started walking at a hurried pace.

I wondered for a while what had gotten into him, but in his defense, it _was_ late, so I marched to my apartment without losing more time.

I was awed by the enormous apartment my aunt had chosen. For something so cheap, I was expecting some kind of studio room, with a bathroom and hopefully a kitchen. But that... that was a whole floor. It was amazing, truly. My new life was starting on a big note, bigger than what I had been expecting. The basic furniture for living was already there, and my body was already aching to try the bed. Most of the bags didn't even make it to the room, as I gradually let go of them before collapsing on my new bed.

That night I had the strangest dream. I was in a cell, sitting, and a window in the ceiling opened. A figure whom I couldn't see dropped a key into the room before quickly retreating. I took the key and was not surprised to find out it was the one for my cell. Before me stood a seemingly endless hallway, with something akin to charred corpses standing against the walls or simply sitting on the floor. They seemed dead, yet they moved from time to time. None of them paid any kind of attention to me as I ran past them, urging to get the hell away from there as fast as possible. I finally reached a patio, filled with nearly-frozen vegetation. Hadn't it been a dream, I would have noticed how cold it was out there. In the middle, the remainers of a small bonfire stood as mere ashes around a weathered sword, rusted by the passing of time. I walked towards it, charmed by the premise of warmth, however faint it would be. However, my attention was quickly shifted to the door in front of me, at least one and a half stories tall, if not two. Something resonated on the other side: it was as if something had been smashed down with enough strength to break stone. I rushed to the door, pushing it as hard as I was able to, finally getting it to move after a while. Another courtyard stood in front of me, this time with no vegetation whatsoever. I looked around the decayed building, its pillars destroyed by either time or brawn: either way, some kind of great force had been the culprit. As I inspected the broken stone, a roar startled me. On the roof of an adjacent building, some kind of monster holding a huge hammer had noticed me, and was making its way towards me. I panicked, running around the yard without much clue of where to hide. However, I was able to notice a side door before the monster swung its hammer towards me. I barely dodged the swing, and sprinted to my escape route. Once again, I was inside that… prison. Dimly lit and with water dripping from the ceiling, it was an extension of the hallway I had visited before. After walking through more halls and avoiding the alarmingly increasing living corpses, I found a cell which ceiling had been destroyed. On the floor, laying on rubble and with his face illuminated by the sunlight, was Kazushi, the man I had met that same afternoon. He had a pained expression, and I connected the dots: he had been the cause of the smashing noise from before. He looked at me and his face lit with relief.

"Oh, it's you… You're no Hollow, eh? Thank goodness... " he had trouble breathing, which cut his speech every three words. "I'm done for, I'm afraid… I'll die soon, I'll lose my sanity," he paused briefly, attempting to keep his mind clear for what little time he had left. "I wish to ask something of you. You and I, we are both under the Fool. Hear me out, will you?"

I had a better look at him. Blood was coming out from his mouth, he was covered in wounds and his clothes -the same he had been wearing hours ago- were mostly torn. His right hand clutched a broken sword, and the left was resting over a silver pistol, tucked in his belt. I nodded slightly, causing him to smile with pain.

"Regrettably, I have failed in my mission. But perhaps you can keep the torch lit…" he looked at the hole in the ceiling. "There is an old saying in my family: 'Thou who art the Fool, art chosen. In thine exodus from the Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords. When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Fool thou shalt know'."

I stared at him, incredulous. I had noticed I was in a dream, but it was taking me too long to wake up. Long enough to start wondering if I was actually dreaming, to be honest. Kazushi spoke again.

"Well, now you know… And I can die with hope in my heart. Oh, one more thing… Take this," he handed me the pistol in his left hand. "It's an Evoker. You will need it in your journey" the gun felt cold and threatening, just as I expected it. However, there was a certain sense of comfort in holding it. "And this…" he handed me the broken sword. I held it firmly, giving it a test swing. "Now I must bid farewell… I would hate to harm you after death. So, go now… And thank you…"

Kazushi closed his eyes, still smiling. He looked peaceful, even after all the pain he must have been enduring, just to give me those two items. I held onto the sword and tucked the gun in my belt, preparing myself to leave. However, a strange glow stopped me. It was emanating from Kazushi. I turned around and saw his lifeless body shining, and a knight standing in front of him. The knight looked at me and kneeled, his right hand positioned over his heart.

"I am Oscar, the Fateless. I shall serve thee, Fool, and walk by thy side until the very end."

The knight vanished soon after talking, glowing in the same way as Kazushi's body. I felt a surge of energy, a spark inside of me that made me feel as if I could take on the world and come out on top. Armed with a sword, a gun, and this new inner force, I continued my way upstairs, finally ending on top of a balcony overlooking the courtyard. The monster from before was still wandering the yard, so I tried to make as little noise as possible. When I reached the end of the balcony, I knew I wouldn't be able to run any longer. Now I had a weapon, and even if that thing was thirty times my size, I proved I could move faster than it could swing that hammer of his. I took a few steps back and ran towards it, landing sword-first on its back. I grasped my sword firmly with both hands, hoping to deal as much damage as possible. I twisted the blade once, then a second time, burying it deeper into its flesh. The demon screamed in rage, jumping and stomping around in an attempt to shake me off. I held on the sword with all the strength I had, but the beast's movements soon forced me to let go of my weapon. The force sent me flying against one of the pillars, but the pain was much less than what I had expected. My sword was still nailed on its back, but it was too high up for me to reach it, so I resorted to my other weapon: the gun named Evoker. I aimed at the monster, but no shot came out of it. Upon closer inspection, it didn't seem as if the Evoker was meant to hold any kind of bullet. The demon didn't wait much longer, and started to swing its hammer and slam it on the floor, shattering the stone tiles. I didn't know what to do anymore. When trying to plan a new strategy for recovering my sword, it managed to reach me with its hammer and throw me against the wall. Every bone in my back felt as if it had broken, and I was out of breath for some seconds. My consciousness began to drift away as I laid there, unable to move.

"**I am thou. Thou art I."**

A voice resonated in my head. It didn't take long before I recognized it: it was Oscar the Fateless, the knight that showed himself after Kazushi's death. Just those words were enough for me to stand up and get ready to fight again. Back on my feet, I looked at the demon straight in the eye and pointed the Evoker to my forehead. I took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, and in that moment, everything seemed to go in slow motion: the demon's hammer slowly making its way towards me once more.

But its swing was stopped. In front of me, with his shield up, Oscar was blocking the attack. His legs trembled slightly, but he didn't look like he was about to give up. Instead, Oscar pushed against the monster's hammer, briefly knocking it back and opening a window for attack. Step forward, a slash across its stomach painted the floor with red blood. In response, the demon roared and jumped, expecting to crush Oscar under its weight, but the knight jumped to a side, rolling out of the attack's range. Once he stood back up, he charged to the demon and buried his sword on its back, then pivoted and slashed the demon's legs. Our enemy lost balance and almost fell on its knees, but the few moments of trembling gave Oscar the perfect moment for the final attack. He jumped back, gaining distance, and charged forward, unleashing all of his strength on a single attack to the demon's neck, hacking off its head. I couldn't help but fall to my knees, as if Oscar's fatigue had been transferred to me. I looked up and saw my knight sheathing his sword and bowing respectfully at the fading corpse of our foe. And after that, he disappeared.

I managed to stand up once more, with a lot of difficulties, and walked to where the demon had been slain. Next to my broken weapon there was a black blur, floating. When I reached down to pick up my sword, the blur floated towards me and disappeared into my body, giving me a sensation of fulfillment. I noticed that the door opposite of the patio was now open, and led to what seemed like the outside of the prison. Again, scarce vegetation, now adorning a dirt road towards a cliff. I was already running out of energy, but I took the last steps towards the cliff. The last thing I saw before everything faded to black was an enormous crow flying towards me.

"What the hell…?" I suddenly woke up.

Everything around me was the same as the previous evening. I would like to say that I awoke to a familiar room, but that still felt like a stranger's bed, even if the sheets were mine. I looked at the time, feeling extremely tired. It was almost seven o'clock, I still had thirty minutes before having to get ready. However, since I wanted to think clearly about that strange dream, I decided to get up and try to meditate the recent event. After showering, when I opened the drawer to get my underwear, I found the Evoker in it. I almost fell to the floor in surprise. That thing was real, that damn knight-shooting gun was real! Which meant that, perhaps, Kazushi's death had been real too. I didn't want to think about that at the moment, so I started to get changed only to keep my mind busy with something else. After being homeschooled during middle school, I was used to wearing pants, and the skirt felt awkward and embarrassing. I thought about talking to a teacher to get a boy's uniform, or at least the pants, while I had breakfast and headed out to take the train. My mind cleared as I reached the building where I would be spending most of my time from that day on.

It was my first day at the Muneshikan High School, and I wasn't going to let some strange dream ruin it for me.


End file.
